Targeting single-person households is not the way to go about reforming council tax - Jayne Dowle

There is no doubt that council tax is well overdue reform, but targeting single-person households is not the way to go about it. Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister and housing secretary, is refusing to rule out the possibility of removing the 25 per cent discount that adults who live alone, or with children under the age of 18, can claim on their bill.

A quarter off council tax can mean a saving of hundreds of pounds a year. The average council tax paid in England in 2024-25 will be £1,668, according to the government. This means a single resident who pays this sum would lose an annual benefit of £417 if the discount is scrapped.

Obviously, a huge number of these residents would be elderly people, living alone due to widowhood, divorce or simply being single. Already their winter fuel allowance is looking precarious, with all but those on the lowest incomes targeted by Sir Keir Starmer to lose a benefit worth £200 or £300, depending on age.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But not all are older. Into this bracket come single, divorced or widowed parents and young single people starting out in life, likely on low earnings. Only full households of students, those in holy orders and prisoners are exempt from council tax.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting. PIC: Yui Mok/PA WireDeputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting. PIC: Yui Mok/PA Wire
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting. PIC: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Introduced into England, Scotland and Wales by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, council tax came into effect as of April 1,1993, replacing Conservative PM’s Margaret Thatcher’s much-hated community charge or 'poll tax’.

The tax goes towards the provision of local services including the fire brigade and police, refuse collection, road repairs, leisure facilities, street lighting and social care, with the latter dominating the balance sheet, especially in less privileged parts of the country.

It stands to reason that a single adult does not demand as much from their local community as a couple or a group of adults sharing a house do.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It isn’t a crime, after all, to live alone. More people in the UK are in this situation than ever, 8.38 million of them in 2023, according to official figures, an increase of 34,000 on the previous year.

Why is the Deputy PM refusing so resolutely to read the room? After all, she has made much political capital of her own experience as a single parent. Surely, one of her most positive attributes is her ability to empathise with others in the same situation.

Adding yet another outgoing of potentially hundreds of pounds a year to already stretched household budgets, in the face of an ongoing cost of living crisis, and with fuel bills on the rise again in October, feels more like a kick in the teeth than a helping hand.

I’ve yet to see an economic case put forward that justifies picking on single people. It seems to me rather more of tinkering around the edges to pull in extra council tax cash than any serious attempt at reform. It would be done without consideration for fairness, or re-valuation of properties, or anything that demands courage from the new government.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Citizens Advice discovered that more than 1.3m UK households had fallen behind with council tax payments during the Covid pandemic, when the charity analysed data in May 2020. How many more still can’t pay, or are still catching up on long-accrued debt?

According to official statistics, council tax debt in England and Wales alone stood at more than £6bn in March of this year.

Does Ms Rayner really want to throw more people into arrears and send this total even higher? Single-person households already pay over the odds for daily living needs, because they have to cover everything, from fuel to pet food, themselves. Why alienate not just the old, but the young and the middle-aged? The Deputy PM needs to take a step back, and consider how to make the system fairer for everyone. One of the major issues is that as it stands, the amount a household pays is based on property values taken more than 30 years ago.

Since then, values have shot up in all parts of the country, but particularly in London and the South East, where obviously there is a lot of political and economic clout.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As local authority funding demands have evolved, also, huge disparities between parts of the country have opened up; in Wandsworth in southwest London (average property price £881,545) the average resident pays £921, but in Liverpool (£207,058) it is £1,249, according to research carried out by The Times newspaper last week.

A recent survey by the Local Government Chronicle found that 54 per cent of 180 respondents who work for councils, or are councillors, are in favour of a revaluation, with respondents criticising the present system for being variously “highly recessive”, “unfair” and even “ridiculous”.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice